New York, July 5 (IANS) Norway coach Stale Solbakken has reminded his players against being overwhelmed by the occasion of playing against five-time champion Brazil in the World Cup Round of 16 game.
“We need to play the match, not the circumstances,” he told reporters in New Jersey on Saturday. “We need to make sure that we don’t play according to the occasion, but that we simply play the match.
“Obviously, Brazil is the favourite, but I also said that I don’t think they are big favourites, which they maybe had been some years ago, or two, three, four years ago.
Last time the two sides clashed was in the 1998 World Cup, where Norway edged Brazil 2-1 in a group game, reports Xinhua.
Norway have two wins and two draws in their previous four meetings with Brazil. “Now we have had a very good run for a very long time, and we have great confidence,” said Solbakken.
On paper, Brazil are the clear favourites: they haven’t missed the Round of 16 since 1990, and a place in the last eight would extend an extraordinary streak. But Norway have a psychological edge going into this one – they’ve never actually lost to Brazil, with two wins and two draws from their four meetings. The most famous of those came at France ’98, a 2-1 shock that Norwegian fans still bring up. Win on Sunday, and Norway are in a World Cup quarterfinal for the first time in their history.
Haaland have been the story of the tournament for Norway, scoring five goals in his first World Cup and putting himself right in the mix with Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, and Harry Kane for the Golden Boot. Brazil aren’t short of firepower either -Vinícius Júnior has four goals and an assist to his name, and Matheus Cunha has found the net three times. Carlo Ancelotti has more than one match-winner to call on if this one’s tight.
Brazil have reached the quarterfinals in each of their last eight World Cups, a run that speaks for itself. Norway have never got this far before, which is exactly what makes Sunday interesting: an established heavyweight against a team with nothing to lose.
Norway have been fun to watch — ten goals in four matches, but they’ve also leaked eight at the other end, so this won’t be a cagey affair if they have their way. Brazil are the opposite: just two goals conceded all tournament, and they’ve shown they can grind out a result too, coming from behind to beat Japan in the Round of 32 thanks to a Gabriel Martinelli winner deep into stoppage time. Attack versus defence, in its purest form.
–IANS
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